The Prosecutor General’s Office is asked to turn to the origins

Vyacheslav Fetisov, First Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, intends to apply to the Prosecutor General’s Office regarding the verification of the legality of the allocation of 14.5 thousand land plots in the specially protected area of ​​Lake Baikal. This is how the deputy reacted to the amendments recently adopted by the State Duma in the first reading, allowing clear-cutting in the central ecological zone of Lake Baikal for the construction of roads, treatment facilities, cafes, restaurants and toilets. Mr. Fetisov called the introduced norms on compensatory landscaping after logging “populism”, calling for a scientific calculation of the consequences of the adoption of the amendments. But the head of the Duma committee on ecology, Dmitry Kobylkin, considered that without logging, one cannot build hydraulic structures. The order to the ministries to prepare their amendments was earlier given by Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev.

Vyacheslav Fetisov announced the upcoming appeal to the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation at a press conference timed to coincide with the Day of Baikal in Russia. The first deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on ecology referred to data received from Rosreestr that 14.5 thousand land plots have been registered within the boundaries of the central ecological zone of Baikal since 2017. Mr. Fetisov expects to receive information from the Prosecutor General’s Office on how this is possible on protected lands, without excluding the illegality of registration. The MP did not rule out the connection of this fact with billallowing logging on Lake Baikal (adopted by the State Duma in the first reading in July 2023): “The meaning of a large bill is to legitimize what somehow happened during registration.”

We are talking about draft amendments to the laws “On the Protection of Lake Baikal” and “On Ecological Expertise”, which allow clear-cutting in the central ecological zone of Lake Baikal.

The authors of the document from the parliament and the Federation Council proposed to allow the construction of roads, sewage treatment plants, utilities, cafes, restaurants and toilets there, citing concern for residents and the fact that “life does not stand still.”

Logging is proposed to be allowed until the end of 2030. In addition, until 2025, the project allows the transfer of forest fund lands to other categories for the creation of “military and civilian burials.” The project was accompanied by a list of 75 plots with cadastral numbers where it is possible to cut down and build hydraulic structures. According to some estimates, their total area is 600 hectares. The project caused a scandal: opponents in the State Duma called the document “the funeral of a sacred lake” and “the destruction of natural systems” (see Kommersant of July 12). Even the legal department of the parliament opposed it, recalling the special status of Baikal.

Vyacheslav Fetisov in the State Duma urged to understand “which business will be the beneficiary.” On Monday, the deputy (who also heads the All-Russian Society for Conservation of Nature) stressed that “we are not against something, but for a logical solution to problems”: “But the law, where everything is stuffed, can do more harm. There is a problem with treatment facilities, but we still do not have the technology of modern treatment facilities. The state should invest here.” Speaking about the need for socio-economic development of Lake Baikal, Vyacheslav Fetisov recalled the existence of two local SEZs (“Baikal Gates” and “Baikal Harbor”), “loaded” only by a third.

He called the norm of the bill on planting five trees instead of one cut down “populism”: “If you cut down an important forest for a thousand kilometers to build a road, where to plant millions of trees? Yes, and a three-hundred-year-old tree cannot be replaced by a seedling.

The deputy also referred to a letter from the Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladislav Panchenko, stating that amendments cannot be adopted “without scientific justification for the impact on the ecosystem” of the lake. At the same time, the Scientific Council of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the problems of Lake Baikal (established in 2002 to aggregate the opinions of scientists), according to the deputy, was not aware of the existence of the project, and “this is very strange.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev also gave instructions to the RF Ministry of Natural Resources and Rosvodresursam to prepare their own amendments. According to him, it is necessary to introduce a norm into the bill, which, in the event of an emergency, will allow the restoration of hydraulic structures. Mr. Trutnev called for the adoption of laws “in the form that they protect nature,” but clarified that the current legislation does not allow “repairing the road” and restoring the railway dam in the Severo-Baikalsky district of Buryatia (collapsed on August 19 after heavy rainfall). The head of the State Duma Committee on Ecology, Dmitry Kobylkin, noted that over 50 prohibitions and restrictions are in effect at Baikal. According to him, a “reinforced concrete system” of protection has been created in these areas, “from which local residents experience difficulties.” Mr. Kobylkin emphasized that building mudflow protection and other hydraulic structures, as well as reconstructing roads “cannot be solved without cutting down” the forest.

Mikhail Kreindlin, a member of the Expert Council on Reserve Affairs, says that there is “a lot of speculation” around lobbying for the bill. As an example, he cites the discussion around clear cuttings of trees, while the Forest Code of the Russian Federation allows for selective felling on Lake Baikal and the construction of mudflow protection structures. “They say that if they are not built, a mudflow will pass and wash away the local pulp and paper mill. But after all, you can cut down forests for this, or you can clean rivers. If the law is adopted, it will be easier for contractors and developers to live,” says Mr. Kreindlin.

Alexander Voronov